The one day hunger strike protests the continued detention of Mansour, who suffers from a brain tumor and lacks appropriate treatment, and has two years remaining of his 33-year sentence, according to a statement from detainees in Ashkelon prison, in southern Israel.
The action comes in response to "medical negligence and slow killing that is carried out by the administration of prisons and their medical staff against the prisoners in the Israeli jails, and due to the health deterioration of Akram Mansour," the statement noted.
Akram Mansour, 51, from the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, was detained in 1980 and sentenced to life imprisonment, according to a detainees center.
In January, the center's lawyer said Mansour is not receiving treatment for his cancer and called for his release.
On March 25, Detainees' Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe said Mansour had suffered a stroke, and that Israel's prison administration was responsible for Akram Mansour's life.
The prisoners called on human rights organizations to support their hunger strike and named April 7 the "Day of Freedom for imprisoned leader Akram Mansour."
Palestinian prisoners go on single day hunger strike |
| [ 07/04/2011 - 11:34 AM ] |
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| GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails go on hunger strike on Thursday to protest the continued Israeli repressive measures against them including medical neglect and solitary confinement. Sources following up the prisoners' issue told the PIC that the prisoners were also protesting the humiliating treatment of their relatives heading to visit them. The sources said that the precautionary strike is also in solidarity with prisoner Akram Mansour, the third oldest serving Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who spent more than 30 years in captivity. He was set to conclude his term in three years time but the Israeli courts added a life sentence to his older verdict, they noted. He was convicted back in 1979 of killing an Israeli soldier and taking his weapon. |
